Yesterday, Assassin's Creed Shadows was delayed again to March 2025, and it's unlikely that this ongoing uncertainty around Ubisoft is helping development matters. In a new press release that arrived alongside the delay, the Assassin's Creed maker has once again mentioned that it's looking for extra investment in the company as it heads into 2025.
Of course, there's plenty of corporate jargon tucked into this company update, but the long and short of it is that Ubisoft wants to trim down its operations and get extra investment to keep "the group" afloat in difficult times. Here's some of what was said in the new press release:
"Following the strategic and execution reviews initiated by the Executive Committee a few months ago, Ubisoft is taking decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation.
Ubisoft announced today that it has appointed leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders. This process will be overseen by the independent members of the Board of Directors. Ubisoft will inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and once a transaction materializes."
That quote would suggest that nothing is in place just yet in terms of a potential buyout, but clearly, major changes are afoot when it comes to the future of Ubisoft. Bloomberg's Jason Schreier has also added that Ubi CEO Yves Guillemot was reluctant to give any extra information on the future when talking to investors this week.
We first heard strong reports of Ubisoft's new direction back in October, when Bloomberg outed plans for a buyout at the Assassin's Creed maker. Reuters then followed up with similar reporting last month, adding that discussions had taken place about "how to structure a possible buyout". Time will tell what happens here, but we'll certainly be following this story at Pure Xbox.